2014/01/30: Information(Dk): For the NSA, espionage was a means to strengthen the US position in climate negotiations
At the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009, the world's nations were supposed to reach an agreement that would protect future generations against catastrophic climate change. But not everyone was playing by the rules. A leaked document now reveals that the US employed the NSA, its signals intelligence agency, to intercept information about other countries' views on the climate negotiations before and during the summit. According to observers, the spying may have contributed to the Americans getting their way in the negotiations

A Terrible Triumvirate is wreaking havoc with climate policy in Canada, Australia and Britain:

2014/01/27: TMoS: Rampage of the Right
It's ongoing in Canada. It's happening in Australia. It's well underway in Britain. In the Conservative ruled Anglosphere, governments are busy dismantling environmental protections. The focus, at the moment, is on Britain where Conservative prime minister David Cameron is about to shred 80,000 pages of environmental protections and building codes.

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.]
And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.
[Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]
We'll see.
At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
Meanwhile...
It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
Do they have an agenda?
Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
Do they want to write a good news story?
Do they want to write a bad news story?
Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

2014/02/01: Asahi: Sludge designated radioactive waste for 1st time in Kanagawa
The Environment Ministry has classified 2.9 tons of sludge from Kanagawa Prefecture as radioactive waste derived from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the first such designation for the prefecture on the southern border of Tokyo. The designation, made in December, means the ministry is responsible for disposing of the radioactive sludge.

2014/01/30: Asahi: NHK radio regular quits after anti-nuclear commentary nixed
A veteran radio show commentator quit his job at Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) after the public broadcaster told him to drop the subject of nuclear power during the Tokyo gubernatorial election, sources said. For about 20 years, Toru Nakakita, a professor of economics at Toyo University, had been in charge of the "Business Outlook" segment of the "Radio Asa Ichiban" show aired weekdays from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. on NHK Radio Daiichi. Nakakita said his original manuscript for the Jan. 30 program pointed out the increase in costs for the resumption of nuclear reactor operations, saying "damages to be paid in the wake of a nuclear plant accident are extraordinarily high." However, when he showed the manuscript to a program director on the day before the scheduled broadcast, Nakakita was asked to change the theme. He said that NHK told him not to talk about "nuclear issues during the Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign period." The election is scheduled for Feb. 9.

2014/01/28: SwissInfo: Swiss throwing away more food
Food makes up about a third of all Swiss trash, according to a waste study from the Federal Environment Office. Roughly 31 kilograms of food per person landed in Swiss rubbish bins over the course of a year -- up 10% from 20 years ago.

2014/01/28: ABC(Au): Port congestion shrinks Canada wheat crop
Canada is forecasting a much smaller wheat crop next season because it can't move last season's harvest. A record 37.5 million tonnes was harvested last season, but that is set to fall by as much as a quarter as rail infrastructure struggles to cope with the abundance of grain.

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

2014/01/28: CBC: Cancer fighting purple tomatoes harvested in Leamington
A crop of genetically modified purple tomatoes designed to fight cancer has been grown and harvested in a greenhouse in Leamington, Ont. The purple tomatoes have been genetically modified to have a higher amount of anthocyanins, an antioxidant found in blueberries, blackberries and plums. It's what gives those fruit their purple colours. Anthocyanins are also said to fight cancer.

2014/01/28: Eureka: Fertilizer nutrient imbalance to limit food production in Africa
Underuse of phosphorus-based fertilizers in Africa currently contributes to a growing yield gap -- the difference between how much crops could produce in ideal circumstances compared to actual yields. This phosphorus-specific yield gap currently lies at around 10% for subsistence farmers, but will grow to 27% by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a study published today in the journal Global Change Biology.

2014/01/30: ABC(Au): Cyclone record reveals drop in activity
Downward trend Rain captured in ancient stalagmites shows Australian tropical cyclone activity is at its lowest level for the past 500 to 1500 years. The finding by a team of Australian and Dutch researchers, published in today's edition of the journal Nature, implies climate change is impacting on weather systems in the region earlier than global models predict.

As for ozone:

And on the ENSO front:

2014/01/30: WMO: El Niño/La Niña Update - Current Situation and Outlook
The tropical Pacific continues to be ENSO-neutral (neither El Niño nor La Niña). Model forecasts and expert opinion suggest that neutral conditions are likely to continue into the second quarter of 2014. Current model outlooks further suggest an enhanced possibility of the development of a weak El Niño around the middle of 2014, with approximately equal chances for neutral or weak El Niño. However, models tend to have reduced skill when forecasting through the March-May period. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and other agencies will continue to monitor the conditions over the Pacific and assess the most likely state of the climate through the first half of 2014.

What's the State of the Oceans?:

And on the extinction watch:

2014/01/31: BBC: Project targets 2016 for Asian vultures release
After the devastation wrought by a drug on Asian vulture populations, a project hopes to begin releasing captive-bred birds into the wild by 2016. The Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction (Save) programme says it plans to release up to 25 birds into a 30,000-sq-km drug-free "safe zone". Diclofenac - used by vets on cattle - was identified as causing a crash in vulture numbers and banned by India.

2014/01/28: ABC(Au): Dwindling jaguar population facing extinction
Shrinking habitat The jaguar could soon become extinct in Brazil's tropical Atlantic forest, threatening the shrinking primitive forest itself, Brazilian scientists warn. A study by the Brazilian conservation authority Cenap indicates the adult jaguar population in the region may have fallen to just 250, "an 80 per cent slide over the past 15 years."

2014/01/28: BBC: Chinese ivory smuggler gets record Kenyan fine
A court in Kenya has fined a Chinese man a record 20m shillings (£140,000; $230,000) for smuggling ivory, under tough new anti-poaching laws. Tang Yong Jian was caught last week with an elephant ivory tusk weighing 3.4kg (7.5 pounds) in a suitcase, at Nairobi's international airport. If he is unable to pay the fine, he will spend seven years in prison.

Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

2014/01/31: SwissInfo: Warm winters change migration patterns
Many water birds which usually migrate south from Switzerland have stayed put this winter, while birds from more northerly areas have not turned up, according to the preliminary results of this year's first aquatic bird census, released on Friday.

2014/01/28: ABC(Au): Residents on edge as bushfire burns
People in South Australia's southern Flinders Ranges are preparing for another nervous night as a bushfire burns out of control into its fourteenth day. Starting at Bangor, north of Adelaide, it has burnt through 22,000 hectares and killed thousands of livestock. Fire fighters say the blaze could burn for many more weeks.

2014/02/01: BBerg: California Warns Water Deliveries Will Be Cut to Zero
California officials said the state's deepening drought means they won't be able to deliver any of the water sought by contractors that supply two-thirds of the population and a million acres of farmland. The California Department of Water Resources, which earlier predicted it would meet about 5 percent of requests, projected yesterday that it won't be able to deliver any of the 4 million acre-feet of water sought by local agencies.

2014/02/01: BBC: Drought-hit California unable to supply state water
California's water agency has announced it may for the first time be unable to deliver water to local agencies, amid a worsening drought. Two-thirds of state residents and 1m acres (404,500 hectares) of farmland get part or all of their drinking and irrigation supplies from the agency. A state-wide drought was declared earlier this month, as the largest reservoirs sank to record low levels.

2014/01/30: BBC: UK floods: January rain breaks records in parts of England
Early figures suggest parts of England have had their wettest January since records began more than 100 years ago. The Met Office said much of southern England and parts of the Midlands had already seen twice the average rainfall for January by midnight on Tuesday - with three days left in the month.

What's new in conservation?

2014/01/30: MSU: To calculate long-term conservation pay off: Factor in people
Paying people to protect their natural environment is a popular conservation tool around the world - but figure out that return on investment, for both people and nature, is a thorny problem, especially since such efforts typically stretch on for years. "Short attention-span worlds with long attention-span problems" is how Xiaodong Chen, a former Michigan State University doctoral student now on faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill sums it up.

In the science organizations:

2014/01/31: BBC: Horizon 2020: UK launch for EU's £67bn research budget
The new European Union research budget has had its official UK launch. Known as Horizon 2020, the programme is worth nearly £67bn (80bn euros) and covers the next seven years. The funds are allocated through a competitive process, in which Britain traditionally fares very well - second only to Germany. If this performance is maintained, UK universities, research centres and businesses could expect to receive £2bn in the first two years of Horizon 2020.

Regarding Advocacy:

Patterson obit:

2014/01/24: PSR: PSR Mourns an Exceptional Leader
Jeff Patterson, DO, was an indefatigable champion who served Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and will be sorely missed by all who knew and worked with him. Jeff exuded compassion. He cared for human life and committed himself to the relief of suffering; it motivated all his work. Jeff was a gentle soul with a powerful spirit and always provided a calming influence in difficult times.

Regarding the Fifth IPCC report:

2014/01/31: RTCC: China unhappy with 'carbon budget' reference in IPCC review
Chinese government objected to scientists including carbon budget in IPCC Summary for Policymakers, documents reveal Documents released yesterday show that China wanted references to a global "carbon budget" to be excluded from the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Government officials told the UN's top climate scientists last year that countries should not be told there is a fixed volume of carbon dioxide that can be burnt before the world experiences dangerous levels of warming. Review papers released by the IPCC show that the Chinese believed that the figure was too uncertain to be included in the 30-page Summary for Policymakers, which is targeted at the world's top politicians. "It is inappropriate for such an argument with much uncertainty to be cited as a key conclusion in the Technical Summary and the Summary for Policymakers," government officials wrote.

2014/01/27: LSJ: Trial begins for Enbridge protesters charged with felony obstruction
Testimony began Monday in the trial of three protesters charged with resisting and obstructing police after attaching themselves to construction equipment last summer at an Enbridge Inc. work site near Stockbridge. During opening statements, attorneys for two of the defendants said their clients were engaged in a peaceful protest and never were told to leave the premises. Their actions didn't meet the elements of the felony crime they are charged with, the lawyers said.

2014/01/28: BBC: Environment Agency 'worked socks off' over floods
The head of the Environment Agency has defended its handling of the floods, saying its staff have "worked their socks off" over the past two months. It follows criticism that the organisation failed to protect the Somerset Levels, which have been badly hit by flooding, by dredging rivers.

2014/01/27: BBC: Floods: Environment Agency in dredging row
The Environment Agency has been criticised as flood warnings for south-west England remain in force. Farmers in the Somerset Levels - which the Environment Secretary is visiting - have demonstrated against the agency for failing to dredge the rivers.

Meanwhile in Australia:

2014/02/01: ABC(Au): Fire continues to burn north of Wattle Flat
Firefighters continue to battle a major bush fire burning close to Wattle Flat, north of Bathurst in the New South Wales central west. The fire is burning out of control about a kilometre north west of the town, and has burnt more than 95 hectares. The Rural Fire Service says the fire is still heading towards the north west corner of the town, and the fire remains at a watch and act status.

2014/01/26: ABC(Au): Bendemeer facing tough water restrictions
Tamworth Regional Council says residents in Bendemeer will be limited in their use of outside water, as they move into Level Three water restrictions. Level One restrictions were introduced in the town two weeks ago, but tougher measures are now required to conserve water.

2014/01/31: ABC(Au): Shepparton business leaders, fruit growers, determined to fight
Business leaders and farmers in northern Victoria say they are rocked by the Federal Government's knockback of SPC Ardmona's bid for assistance. The cannery wanted $25 million from the government, and matching funds from the state government, to retool and modernise. But the Federal Government has declined the grant, meaning at least 2,000 jobs are at risk at the northern Victorian cannery and the orchards and transport business that supply it.

2014/01/31: ABC(Au): Opposition says Abbott 'got the balance wrong' on SPC
Federal shadow agriculture spokesperson Joel Fitzgibbon says Prime Minister Tony Abbott 'got it wrong' when rejecting SPC Ardmona's request of $25 million for its cannery in Shepparton. [...] "Tony Abbott just takes this hard-line economic rationalist view that there's no role for government in sustaining some of these businesses."

2014/01/31: BBC: Australia Great Barrier Reef dredge dumping plan approved
Australian authorities have approved a project to dump dredged sediment in the Great Barrier Reef marine park as part of a project to create one of the world's biggest coal ports. The decision was made by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Scientists had urged it not to back the project, saying the sediment could smother or poison coral. Several companies want to use the Abbot Point port to export coal reserves from the Galilee Basin area.

2014/01/31: ABC(Au): Dredge dumping: just because you can doesn't mean you should
The decision to dump dredge spoil within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is an outrage to Australians. It should never be allowed to proceed. Australians have every right to be outraged right now. Our greatest marine park is to be used as a dump. Three million cubic metres of sea bed will be ripped up at Abbot Point, north of Bowen, then transported and unloaded in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. First Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved this craziness, then today the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority issued a dumping permit.

2014/01/31: ABC(Au): Queensland fisherman labels dredging decision a 'disaster'
A north Queensland fisherman says the decision to dump dredge spoil from the Abbot Point coal terminal in the Great Barrier Marine Park will seriously damage the local fishing industry. Three million cubic metres of spoil must be dredged as part of the expansion of the major coal terminal at Bowen, North Queensland. The expansion was approved by Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt, in December.

2014/01/31: ABC(Au): Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority approves controversial dredge spoil permit
The agency responsible for protecting the Great Barrier Reef has approved the dumping of three million tonnes of dredge spoil as part of a port expansion project. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's decision will allow the Abbot Point coal terminal in north Queensland to become the biggest in the world. The move's been opposed by environmentalists, tourism operators and tens of thousands of locals, and there are fears that it sets the scene for unprecedented development in the world heritage area.

2014/01/29: ABC(Au): Water in demand
Water cartage operators are in demand across the Hunter, as drier conditions start to bite. Drought is now gripping much of New South Wales, including the Upper Hunter.

2014/01/29: ABC(Au): Warm weather causing dam storages to drop
Hot, windy conditions have taken a toll on the Hunter's water storages. The average storage level across the Grahamstown and Chichester Dams, as well as the Tomago sandbeds and Anna Bay facility is 88 per cent. That is down from 95 per cent six weeks ago. Individually Chichester Dam is struggling, dropping to 67 per cent.

2014/01/29: ABC(Au): Council adopts Dysart water crisis report
The Isaac Regional Council says it hopes to complete all improvements to the Dysart Water Treatment Plant by the end of the year. Council yesterday adopted a report into the Dysart water crisis, including recommended short and long-term improvements. Late last year, the plant was forced to shut and more than 4.2 million litres of potable water had to be delivered to the mining town.

2014/01/28: ABC(Au): Bogan council formalises water charges
The Bogan Shire Council has formalised a water supply contract for irrigators using a 65 year old channel in the hope of recouping its operating costs. The Albert Priest Channel supplies water to the council, Cobar Water Board and a number of irrigators without a formal contract between the parties. The Mayor, Ray Donald, says the charges include access and usage fees as well as potential water loss.

And in China:

While in Japan:

2014/01/31: NYT: Japan's Public Broadcaster Faces Accusations of Shift to the Right
[...]
The broadcaster has also faced widespread public distrust for coverage of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident that was later criticized for meekly complying with government efforts to cover up the extent of radiation releases.
The accusations of political interference have also become a new headache for the Abe government, which has already seen its high approval ratings slide after passage in December of a secrecy law that many Japanese journalists saw as imposing draconian punishments on government officials who speak with reporters. This has led many liberals to accuse Mr. Abe of trying to muzzle the press as he pushes through a right-wing agenda that most Japanese voters may not fully support.
"This is gross political interference," said Yasushi Kawasaki, a former NHK political reporter who now teaches journalism at Sugiyama Jogakuen University near Nagoya, Japan. "The Abe government has stocked NHK's Board of Governors with friendly faces in order to neuter its coverage."

2014/01/31: WSWS: Japan: New political alignment emerges in Tokyo election
The campaign for the February 9 election for Tokyo governor has exposed a deep-seated alienation from the political establishment -- the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and opposition Democratic Party of Japan as well as the myriad political parties. None of the 16 candidates is standing under a party banner. All preferred to run as "independents," receiving "support" or "endorsement" from various political parties.

In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:

2014/01/30: NNW: Nuclear power liability to jump to $1 billion
The Conservative government is poised to introduce legislation that will raise the liability for civilian damages for nuclear operators to $1 billion from the current $75 million. The Canadian Press has learned that will be included in an act Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver will introduce in the Commons today to improve offshore energy safety and security along with nuclear security. The move is part of an orchestrated government effort to get ahead of widespread environment concerns about Canada's energy regulation.

2014/01/28: CBC: Abortion debate may return as Health Canada weighs RU-486 approval
Abortion debate likely to continue as Health Canada considers approving abortion drug mifepristone The abortion debate on Parliament Hill isn't likely to fade in 2014 as Health Canada is expected to decide whether to approve a drug that terminates pregnancies. Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, has been under consideration by Health Canada since December 2012. It usually takes about nine months for pharmaceuticals to work their way through the approvals process, making mifepristone overdue for a decision.

2014/01/23: PostMedia: Environment ministers dismiss talk of slowing oilsands expansion
Former Fort McMurray MP says quality of life suffering in northern Alberta Provincial and federal environment ministers agreed Thursday there are no plans to slow down expansion of the oilsands, even as a former Fort McMurray [Former Conservative MP Brian Jean] says explosive growth needs to cool off to allow the area's infrastructure to catch up.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

2014/01/27: PostMedia: Oilsands and water: report calls for more research on effects of spill
Too little is known about products from Alberta's oilsands to assess whether spills in rivers or coastal areas could be effectively cleaned up, according to a recent report for a U.S. government agency. The scientists writing for the emergency response division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say it is unclear whether diluted bitumen will float in water and for how long the molasses-like mixture will remain at the surface.

In the Maritimes:

2014/01/31: CBC: Fracking waste can be cleaned for disposal: minister
Nova Scotia government says filtered water meets Health Canada's disposal guidelines The Nova Scotia government says a waste management company has found a way to safely clean up millions of litres of treated water left over from fracked wells. Environment Minister Randy Delorey released a statement Friday saying the process developed by Atlantic Industrial Services in Debert can clean the waste to the point that it poses a "minimal risk" to the health of Nova Scotians and the environment.

2014/01/30: DenverPost: Garfield County opposes air pollution rules
Garfield County is joining four other western Colorado counties in an effort to persuade state regulators to soften proposed new air quality standards, urging the state not to adopt statewide standards that may not apply in some areas. Environmental groups want statewide rules governing the oil and gas industry, which has been blamed for much of the air pollution.

2014/01/29: BBerg: BP Continued Suspension From New U.S. Contracts Sought
BP Plc's suspension from new government contracts and oil leases after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill should continue because the company hasn't demonstrated it's a responsible contractor, the U.S. said. BP is fighting a 2012 ban imposed on 20 affiliates by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which prevents all BP entities from bidding on any new government supply contracts or oil leases. The suspension, which doesn't affect BP's earlier government contracts, was imposed after the agency determined the London-based company hadn't fully corrected problems that led to the fatal explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

2014/01/31: BBerg: Keystone XL Won't Worsen Climate Change, U.S. Says
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline cleared a key hurdle today with a government study that found the project's impact on the climate would be minimal, which supporters said meets President Barack Obama's test for building the project. In its final technical review, the U.S. State Department found the Canada-U.S. oil pipeline would not greatly increase carbon emissions because the oil sands in Alberta will be developed anyway, a department official said today on a call with reporters.

The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:

2014/01/29: CCurrents: Economic Justice Is The Solution
A paradigm shift is taking place. It is coming from the awareness that all of our crises are connected to an economy rigged for the wealthiest. The symptoms of big finance capitalism create the poverty, low wages, economic insecurity and environmental destruction so a handful can profit. While these facts have been hidden by political leaders and corporate mass media, now people are seeing them and understand the task we have before us.

2014/01/30: CTV: Fukushima nuclear plant manufacturers named in lawsuit
Tokyo -- About 1,400 people have filed a joint lawsuit against three companies that manufactured Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, saying they should be financially liable for damage caused by its 2011 meltdowns. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the lawsuit, filed Thursday at Tokyo District Court, is a landmark challenge of current regulations which give manufacturers immunity from liability in nuclear accidents.

2014/01/28: AbqJournal: Texas can sue NM over water, Supreme Court rules
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said Texas can go ahead with its lawsuit that claims groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico is draining the Rio Grande and depriving Texas users of water to which they are legally entitled. Texas cleared a major hurdle with the decision, which could set the stage for a protracted legal battle. The court did leave New Mexico what could be an escape clause that would allow the case to be quickly dismissed.

It looks like this BP trial over the Gulf oil spill is going to take a long while:

2014/01/27: WSJ:CI: BP's New Tactic in Oil Spill Claims: Go After the 'Special Master'
BP has been complaining for a year that money it has promised to pay to financial victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been doled out to unworthy, uninjured claimants. In courthouse filings and newspaper ads, BP has targeted companies it says were not really harmed by the accident and their lawyers, as the oil giant's estimate of the tab ballooned from $7.8 billion to $9.4 billion. Now the oil company is taking aim at the guy doing the doling: Patrick Juneau, who was appointed by a federal judge in New Orleans to administer claims under a settlement between BP and lawyers for businesses along the Gulf Coast.

Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

On the coal front:

2014/01/31: BBC: Colombia to charge employees of US coal company Drummond
Colombian chief prosecutor Eduardo Montealegre says he will bring charges against six employees of the US coal mining company, Drummond, over an environmental disaster last year. The company spilled hundreds of tonnes of coal into the sea at Santa Marta, on Colombia's Caribbean coast, when it tried to rescue a sinking barge.

On the gas and oil front:

2014/02/01: BBerg: California Getting Record Volume of Canadian Oil by Rail
California, the third-largest oil-refining state in the U.S., is bringing in a record volume of oil from Canada by rail as it faces shrinking supplies from Alaska and within the state. The most populous U.S. state received 709,014 barrels of crude from Canada by rail in December, a 4.9 percent increase from November and up from zero a year ago, data posted on the state Energy Commission's website show. Canada made up 67 percent of the state's total oil-by-rail receipts. North Dakota, where fields in the Bakken formation are producing a record volume of crude, shrank to a 5.9 percent share. U.S. West Coast refiners from Valero Energy Corp. to Tesoro Corp., lacking pipeline access to the glut of shale oil in the middle of the country, have been turning to rail to counter declining supplies in California and Alaska.

Regarding oil and the economy...Do you think this is delusional?

And in pipeline news:

2014/01/29: EurActiv: Russia's South Stream pipe shores up hefty contracts
Russia's massive South Stream pipeline project for transporting gas to southern Europe took a big step forward today (29 January) as three companies secured E1 billion worth of contracts to supply part of its offshore section. The 2,400 km (1,500-mile) pipeline, which Russian state-controlled gas producer Gazprom says will be fully operational by 2018, would be able to supply almost 15% of Europe's annual gas demand, pumping Russian gas through the Black Sea into southeastern Europe. It would bypass Ukraine...

Marvelous! Now the USA has their own Mechanical Mordor:

2014/01/29: NPR: On The Plains, The Rush For Oil Has Changed Everything
A remarkable transformation is underway in western North Dakota, where an oil boom is changing the state's fortunes and leaving once-sleepy towns bursting at the seams. In a series of stories, NPR is exploring the economic, social and environmental demands of this modern-day gold rush.

A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?

2014/01/26: BizInsider: Why Natural Gas Prices Are Soaring
[...] Thousands of unprofitable wells litter the land. Many billions were written off. Real money that had been recklessly thrown around during the boom disappeared into the ground. Investors were lured with false promises. The bloodletting in the industry was enormous. Some of the largest drillers have pulled back from drilling for dry natural gas. [...] But shale gas wells have sharp decline rates, and new wells need to be drilled constantly to make up for the decline in older wells. These days, not enough wells are being drilled, and production in all gas plays combined - except for the Marcellus - is already in slight decline. The only production boom left is in the Marcellus: the "shale gas revolution" in the US is now a one-pony show.

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

Biofuel bickering abounds:

2014/01/29: BBerg: Branson's Butanol Heading to U.S. as Ethanol Substitute
Butanol, the gasoline substitute promoted by billionaire Richard Branson, is headed for its debut at U.S. pumps as soon as next year in a challenge to ethanol's domination of the $26 billion renewable fuels market. Like ethanol, the colorless alcohol can be brewed from corn, though it packs more energy when mixed into gasoline.

2014/01/31: BBC: Sellafield partly closed after 'above normal' radiation
The Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria is partially closed after "elevated levels of radioactivity" were detected. Each building was checked after a perimeter alarm was triggered at the north of the site. The company later said it was naturally occurring background radiation and not attributable to any issue or problem with any operation on site.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

2014/01/27: BBerg: Global Warming Battle Is Over Market Share, Not Science
Last week, the New York Times reported that venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average component Coca-Cola Co. was awakening to the impact of climate change on its business. The increase in unpredictable weather, droughts, floods and other climate-related events was disrupting the company's product supply. Some of their "essential ingredients" are now under threat. Global warming, according to the article, is being seen "as a force that contributes to lower gross domestic products, higher food and commodity costs, broken supply chains and increased financial risk." This debate is no longer about whether global warming is real (it is) or whether humans are the most likely cause (you are), but rather, some very interesting and different questions that might be more professionally relevant to finance: How is this going to affect business? What are the investing consequences? Who will be the financial winners and losers of climate change? Investors should be considering this as a fight over market share, not a scientific debate.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer -- no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field ... and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<regards>

-het

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

"In the bottom of my heart I'm convinced now, and I think a lot of people share this feeling, that our government and its processes no longer belong to the people. They belong to the big oil companies, who have bought and paid for the changes that have been made very recently." -Gerald Amos, former chief of the Haisla nation

More like this

As is occasionally my habit when a big story breaks, I have gathered together all the relevant documents I could find concerning the recent controversy about the Canadian Conservative government's recent consolidation of the libraries at their Department of Fisheries & Oceans. The consolidation…

Donate

ScienceBlogs is where scientists communicate directly with the public. We are part of Science 2.0, a science education nonprofit operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please make a tax-deductible donation if you value independent science communication, collaboration, participation, and open access.

You can also shop using Amazon Smile and though you pay nothing more we get a tiny something.

More by this author

A fascinating press release I want to pass along. At first I thought it was maybe good news in that rising sea levels would slow glacier drainage into the oceans but the affect is the opposite:
For the first time, researchers have closely observed how the ocean's tides can speed up or slow down…

"In order to save the dying heliocentric theory from the conclusive geocentric experiments performed by Michelson, Morley, Gale, Sagnac, Kantor and others, establishment master-mind Albert Einstein created his Special Theory of Relativity which in one philosophical swoop banished the absolute…

An illustrative graphic from Bloomberg.com arrived in my inbox. As they put it: "We just obliterated another heat record."
To view it, you'll have to head over to here: 2015 Was the Hottest Year on Record by a Long Shot

I will allow comments through by default for repeat commenters again, first time commenters will still need an initial approval.
I will however now be a more active moderator and delete things that are useless or unnecessarily personal from now on, except on this thread.
This is unavoidably…

August 13th was Earth Overshoot Day. The correct date, if calculated precisely, would come earlier and earlier each year, the current choice is just an approximation.
This year, the year 2015, by sometime around August 13th, humanity had consumed as much of what we require from the lands and seas…

More reads

As I write this, I'm told that there are eleven water cannon vehicles heading to the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, to attempt to cool down nuclear material that is exposed and exuding (I dare not use the word "leaking" lest I be thought an alarmist) radiation at a rate that seems to be as alarming to the engineers and nuclear experts on the scene as it is assuaging to…

Prepare yourself.
The Te Papa Museum of New Zealand has a new specimen locked in a vault: a colossal squid that will be thawed and dissected (they think!) on streaming video.
Here is the necromantic chamber.
Wait! No protective runes, no array of emergency thuribles, no pentagram, no mysterious idols of jade and obsidian? This may not go well.